


see me in a new light

by were



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Banter, Crack, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, M/M, Sarcasm, Valentine's Day, but they're adults, i don't know what this is, it's honestly not even a true fake/pretend relationship, sort of office au, they are basically like children, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 01:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17798852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/were/pseuds/were
Summary: "It's valentine's tomorrow and you're attending a high school reunion and you dread that they'll mock the only ginormous gaping hole of your otherwise very successful life.""Is that hole euphemism for love of my life? Couldn't you have used a more appropriate analogy?"orThe one where they think they can pull off a fake relationship; only, their cover is blown right off the bat.





	see me in a new light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [manonlemelon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/manonlemelon/gifts).



> this is for the mythiamvalentine 2k19 event, a gift fic for @manonlemelon. I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm sorry in advance if its dry sense of humour is dryer than.... I can't even think of something that's dry enough. you deserve something better.
> 
> (this was quickly beta'd by janna/li0nh3art.  
> any remaining mistakes are mine)
> 
> anyways. happy v day, my friends.

1.  
When Theo walked into the office and saw Liam's face, the first thing that came to his mind was how Liam looked like he got rolled over by a tank and then dragged apart by wild horses. He paused for a while, trying to think of a way to word that better or choose between the analogies. When he made up his mind, he walked up to Liam and said instead, "A long shot, but you look horrid."

Liam didn't even honour him with a glance. "A very good morning to you too."

"I've had a decent breakfast and commute, didn't know you cared," Theo responded dryly. "Bad traffic? I could go down and get you a good strong cuppa if you need. You have a meeting in thirty, by the way."

Liam turned around and took a quiet breath before going off, in a rather neurotically flat way: "I woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. There was a black cat at my window, I broke a mirror, and I somehow walked under a ladder when I stepped out of my flat, and I don't know what day it is but I didn't dare look at the calendar because it feels like it's Friday the 13th? It must be Friday 13th. Also, I tried fitting my head through the sleeve of my sweater by mistake and couldn't figure out what was wrong for five minutes straight and for another five minutes I thought the world was topsy turvy. It's all a sign, isn't it?"

Theo winced. "That last one was creative."

His boss groaned. "I'm not ready for tomorrow."

Theo blinked for a heartbeat or two. "You mean, for your high school reunion party tomorrow or the dentist appointment at two?"

Liam turned green. "I have a dentist appointment on Valentine's?"

"Yes, and we're not a Friday, we're a Wednesday."

"Why the fuck is the reunion on a work day?" Liam started pulling on his hair. 

"You do realise you have a meeting very shortly and you look like you've been through an undead apocalypse of some form?"

Liam stopped pulling his hair. "Don't you have anything to say about my predicament tomorrow?"

Theo shook his head carefully. "Survive today first and we'll talk." He went downstairs to get Liam a cup of something really strong before Liam could respond.

 

2.  
"I survived today."

"You also regurgitated your lunch mid-pre and had to use the loo successively. And you snapped at the customer. It's bad form, but you are a well-respected CEO and will be forgiven with time."

"But I survived," Liam reaffirmed weakly.

"In the strictest sense, I suppose, but in my honest interpretation... very barely."

"Okay, well," Liam said, "it means we can talk, you promised."

"I didn't sign anything of that sort on the contract."

"You're a terrible overqualified PA. Have I told you I've been looking for a replacement?"

"Yes, I've been sorting through the resumes myself."

Liam feigned crying. "Okay, but for real, can I—"

Theo smiled softly, pushing Liam's drink towards him, and gave Liam some time to just breathe and soothe his almost-panic-attack. "Of course, Liam. Go ahead, I'm all ears."

Liam took a deep breath but wasn't sure if Theo was sincere or still sarcastic. "Be honest, I'm doing okay, right? Life-wise?"

"Would you fire me if I said no, not really?"

"Ye— NO! Of course not. Friend-to-friend, heart-to-heart, hit me with your best shot, all that. Please be brutally honest with me," Liam said though Liam's face read, _don't hurt me dear god have mercy_.

Theo deadpanned, "You're doing positively fine, Liam."

"But I don't have…a... well, uhh…um," Liam pouted and left the sentence hanging. Theo did some two plus twos in his head and rubbed at his temple.

"It's valentine's tomorrow and you're attending a high school reunion and you dread that they'll mock the only ginormous gaping hole of your otherwise very successful life."

"Is that hole euphemism for love of my life? Couldn't you have used a more appropriate analogy?"

"No, it's more the lack thereof that I'm referring to."

"Okay but—"

"I don't see why it's a problem. It's the twenty-first century, people can choose to not actively seek a partner, and people who mock you for it are widely considered to be downright ludicrous."

"Okay well—"

"Besides, you should be confident enough to go alone. You're young, rich, influential, cute, a CEO, so on."

"You think I'm cute?"

"Yes, you're a little too vertically challenged to be called handsome."

"That comment alone should get you fired from being a decent...PA, friend, human being, I'm not sure which."

"Let's get back on track… you know, you could even afford plenty of dates. _But_ yes I know, you'll choose not to, because you're not like that, you don't buy your way to people's hearts because you're genuine and sweet and everyone loves you. And I think that's pretty admirable."

Liam shut his mouth and blinked several times. Theo narrowed his eyes.

"You were planning to buy yourself a date," Theo conjectured aloud.

Liam opened his mouth and closed it again.

"You were planning to buy yourself… two dates," Theo continued suspiciously.

Liam frowned deeply. "No what the fuc—"

"God forbid you were planning to buy yourself an orgy—"

"No! For crying out loud, no!" Liam was flailing.

"Then what on earth is that guilty as charged expression you're sporting on your face?"

Liam sighed and scratched the back of his neck and then sighed again and tried looking Theo straight in the eye except he got intimidated by god knew what in less than a second and he was finding his coaster incredibly well-designed. "I was… well, thinking whether or not I could invite you as my date. Like a fake date. I-it could be extra hours on your tab, I don't mind paying—"

This time Theo was the one doing the goldfish-mouth exercise. "I need something stronger," he said at last, and called for the bartender.

 

 

3.  
"What's the weather like today?"

"High of ten, low of five, cloudy the whole day through, ten percent chance of rain and a hundred percent chance this is not going to end well."

"I beg to differ," Liam called out, "Ninety-nine percent. No way you'd entertain me otherwise," Liam replied nervously. He handed Theo a paper. "Here's our story."

Theo skimmed through it quickly. "We met on a rooftop? We ate meatballs in the back alley of an Italian restaurant? First kiss in a hot-air balloon?"

Liam was clearly embarrassed. "No! Those are just brainstorming notes. It's the last line that's our cover story."

"The last line is just, _met through a friend of a friend of a friend at a New Year's party_."

"Yes, and our first kiss was an awkward but heart-warming one at the first stroke of midnight."

Theo looked at Liam strangely before nodding. "All right. Didn't think you had it in you but that sounds relatively solid."

 

 

4.  
"I've a vague feeling I'm forgetting something."

"You're just being neurotic. It's normal."

"Maybe I forgot my car keys inside my car."

"They're in my pocket. You're fine."

"Maybe I should offer to double your salary if everything goes smoothly and successfully."

"Don't let your nerves do the spending, boss."

Theo grabbed Liam by the collar and then readjusted his tie. Liam swallowed hard and Theo rolled his eyes before patting down his shirt. "You'll be fine."

"Okay," Liam said as confidently as he could.

 

 

5.  
Someone approached them and Liam tensed up like a cat ready to fight or flight. Mostly flight.

"Hey. You're Liam Dunbar, aren't you?" 

"The one and only!" Liam chirruped a little too enthusiastically before frowning deeply. "You're…"

"Stiles. Stilinski."

Liam blinked. "Yes I know. It's just, you're a senior…"

"I'm friends with Mason and came along. I'm from the same high school and there's free booze, so I thought I should take advantage," Stiles said as he eyed Theo. "This one's not from our high school."

Theo shook his head. "No. I'm just his partner and there's free booze, and it's valentine's, so I thought my being from a better, sorry, I mean _other_ high school, would be an irrelevant detail. I'm Theo Raeken by the way. A pleasure to meet you."

Liam choked on his drink, and Stiles narrowed his eyes, deliberately ignoring Theo's proffered hand. "You two seem like a strange match. Had I known better I'd say this is one of those romcom fake pretend dating things."

"Wait, what?" Liam said, shocked. 

Stiles rolled his eyes but then looked mildly apologetic. "Sorry. Force of habit. Work makes me this way."

"Work?" Liam asked.

"Don't spread it around too much, but I work as a sort of detective," Stiles eyed Theo suspiciously but then seemed to soften his features at Liam. "Stand closer if you want to be a little more convincing. Relax your shoulders and whisper in each other's ears and read jokes off of reddit and laugh or something so that you guys look like you're enjoying each other's company."

"We express ourselves a bit differently but we're definitely together," Theo countered good-humouredly, wrapping an arm around Liam's waist almost in a defensive manner. "You give rude advice, detective, but we appreciate the thought."

Stiles waved them off, muttering, mostly to himself, "I'm starting to suspect there's money involved here."

 

 

6.  
"That guy is some character," Theo commented. Liam frowned.

"He means well. I think we could use his advice," Liam said, before tiptoeing a little upwards to reach Theo's ear. "Though the valentine's day jokes on reddit are downright horrible, I think you'd dump me if I chose to whisper any in your ear," Liam lowered himself and looked away before adding, "besides, some are paragraphs long, I think I'd be sore just telling you half."

Theo laughed despite there being no real joke. "I think we should do the reverse of his advice just to spite him." Theo glanced in Stiles' direction. "He's watching us like a hawk."

Liam grimaced. "I do enjoy your company though," he informed. "Despite your rudeness."

Theo smiled briefly. "Why, thank you."

"It's not a compliment. You should really work on it. Kindness can go long ways!" Liam encouraged.

"Will it triple my salary? Will it get me a hefty bonus by the end of the year? Will it give me a mansion and fifty cars?"

"Never fucking mind," Liam responded with a sigh.

 

 

7.  
"Who is this and why don't I know him?" Mason asked. Mason was Liam's best friend in high school, but they had both been busy with their own lives and hadn't kept as much in contact as they would have liked, especially after Mason moved to Canada. He was only back in town because he was visiting his gran's.

"He's…" Liam hesitated, his hands motioning something more abstract than Picasso.

"Theo," Theo provided and offered his hand. Mason shook it with the happiest smile on his face.

"Li! You sly dog! You hit the jackpot and didn't tell me?"

"We met on New Year's this year. I just… we want to keep it lowkey for now," Liam explained quickly.

"New Year's! Did you guys kiss at midnight then? God, I always wondered what it must be like, kissing before even dating."

Liam held his breath and looked at Theo.

"I sort of pictured our first kiss on a hot-air balloon, but that first one was nice. Awkward, but nice. Breaks the ice quite well, if you ask me," Theo said. Mason seemed to buy it but then seemed to be distracted by some thoughts.

"You're either a funny or romantic guy, I can't tell," Mason said and looked at Liam and frowned. Liam was between mortification and laughter. "You all right, man?"

"Peachy," Liam squeaked. "I just didn't think he'd like, uh, hot-air balloons or italian restaurants."

Mason quirked an eyebrow. "Italian restaurants?" 

"He just learned that a few hours ago," Theo said. "We were... thinking about what to eat."

Mason nodded. "Aww, that's cute. Still learning the ins and outs. So, Theo, what do you do?"

"I'm a PA," Theo responded automatically and then sort of frowned. Liam tensed up right away, and somehow Mason caught that.

"Oh. What company?" he asked, narrowing his eyes and studying Liam.

"Um…" Theo tried thinking of the name of his previous company but it was slipping his mind.

Liam seemed to fidget and panic and looked from one side to another. "He works at Facebook!" he provided unhelpfully.

Mason widened his eyes. "What?"

Theo grimaced. Facebook? Of all companies? That don't have an office in this city? What? He glared at Liam.

"You work at Facebook?"

"Please don't say that too loud, I'm only a PA," Theo said, feigning humbleness. "It's nothing big, I'm far from being a young millionaire or anything."

"And… there's an office here?" Mason asked, clearly suspicious though he also seemed to be giving both Liam and Theo the benefit of doubt. "I didn't know there was a-"

Though the situation wasn't even close to a checkmate or even a stalemate, Liam burst, cracked, crumbled: "Mason, just. I'm lousy at lies and you've figured out my tell like a billion years ago and I can tell you're going to drill us all night if you have to, so I won't pretend anymore but please please please don't tell. I just want to. Have a nice night with my fake date?"

Theo blinked and then looked from Mason to Liam and then Liam to Mason and started wondering what made Liam want to just confess. Mason looked mildly amused and did some connect the dots in his head.

"Oh!" he said after moments of painfully awkward silence. "I see. You must be his PA then? And this is fake dating so Li wouldn't look like a lonely thing on Valentine's in front of classmates he shouldn't care about anymore?"

"It's fascinating how your old classmates are all very extremely perceptive?" Theo remarked, turning to Liam. Liam shrunk.

"Where's Corey by the way?" Liam asked, trying to salvage the conversation by changing topics. Successively. "Do you still own cats? Any movie recommendations? What do you think of the weather today? Want to hear a four paragraph reddit valentine's day joke? It starts with a man and a woman..."

 

 

8.  
"This was a terrible idea."

"You should have listened to the weather report," Theo singsonged. 

"I should have known it was impossible for me to keep anything from Mason. And that he would tell Corey. So at least three people know right off the bat that we're just fake-dating because I can't suck it up and not care about what people think."

They were sitting at a bench at the corner of the party, trying to fade into the wall.

"Hey it's okay. It was an entertaining Thursday, to say the least. I had fun laughing internally at you. You're such a child it's adorable."

"You're an honest-to-fuck jerk."

"Also, I've been trying to figure out your tell the whole evening but it's really escaping me. Is it the way you rub your earlobe before speaking? The way you shift on your feet? This is very good information for future endeavours."

"That sounds incredibly ominous. Anyways... Mason took six years to figure it out."

"I've technically known you for four already, right? Two more to go. I bet I'll be faster."

"Oh god please no... Spare me..."

 

 

9.  
"Who did you end up kissing on New Year's this year? Ever given it a thought to ask that person on a date?" Theo suggested.

Liam laughed. "I pecked my mom on the cheek," he paused for a moment. "I haven't really been looking. I've been busy and I use any free time with family and my pet dogs."

"So outside of your family and dogs, I'm the only other human being you've really interacted with for the past years?"

"As sad as that sounds, you are… not incorrect…"

Theo thought for a bit, and then, perhaps spurred by the couples slow-dancing to dingy eighties music in front of them, he asked, rather casually, "Did you ever think about asking me out?"

Liam looked at Theo for a moment, studied him closely, closely enough for Theo to feel a little intimidated, and that wasn't something that happened often because Theo wasn't really scared of much. 

"Will you quit being my PA if I said I have?" he asked carefully.

Theo smiled nervously. "Hypothetically, I wouldn't."

Liam mirrored his smile. "And what if…"

Somehow Theo hadn't noticed how close they were. Had they unconsciously stuck closely following Stiles' advice? Were they sitting this closely two minutes ago? It was hard to tell, but they were shoulder to shoulder and Theo had the illusion that their noses were almost brushing each other.

 

 

10.  
Liam leaned in and pressed his lips very lightly against Theo's, as if by almost not-touching, everything could remain hypothetical, within context.

But even just the light brush gave off some form of a spark. Theo wasn't cheesy or sappy by nature but he could have sworn that this kiss felt special, that Liam felt just right, snuck beside him, looking into him like a puppy waiting for a compliment, waiting to be cherished.

They stayed like that for a bit, contemplative, eyeing each other curiously in a mortified way. Theo didn't exactly notice, the same way he hadn't noticed that they were sat so close, that his heart had skipped several beats and that time had slowed down around them, as if the world was waiting on them for the next move on the chessboard.

"There weren't fireworks or anything, but I think that was agreeable," Theo finally said because it was his turn.

Liam grimaced and then turned away, timidity catching up on him. "Well, sorry this wasn't a hot-air balloon."

"I'll forgive you just this once," Theo said, pausing for good measure, letting Liam try to register the words, before diving in and kissing him a bit less hypothetically.

 

 

11.  
"By the way, you've forgotten your dentist appointment, haven't you? Or did you skip it deliberately?" Theo asked, tone dangerous. "I will have you know I'm not kissing you if you don't have good dental hygiene."

"Yes, happy valentine's day to you too," Liam replied weakly.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from john mayer's "new light"


End file.
